After more than five decades working in the City, Clive Fiske Harrison, chairman of stockbroker Fiske, tells it like it is.
The 73-year-old did not sugar the pill for his shareholders today. He said: “The only good thing I can say about the results for the half-year ending November 30 2012 is that the final figure is a plus, albeit a figure so small as to be insignificant.”
In fact Fiske made a pre-tax profit of just £5000, down from £152,000 a year earlier.
Harrison told his investors: “Most stockbrokers have fallen on bad times, mostly because they relied heavily on corporate finance fees. We are not in that position as we regard corporate finance business as having a huge conflict of interest with advising private client funds.”
He lamented: “The image of private client stockbrokers has been badly affected by recent events and we continue to stress our old fashioned emphasis on value for money and integrity.
“In that context it is important to accept that more activity can only be justified if it is in the client’s best interest. This has affected our short-term results.
Fiske says that it will pay a token dividend of 0.25p – or a farthing to its older shareholders.
